Saturday Things

Look at that -- I'm posting twice in one month!

Because I don't really have a topic to write about on this lazy Saturday afternoon (it's lazy because  Chet is holed up in our bedroom doing homework, which means my job is to keep everyone out of the bedroom and alive), this will be random.  The younger two are napping, and the older two are enriching their minds in front of the TV.  (Have I mentioned it's a million degrees outside?  No?  It is.)

I'm still reading a lot, and am actually a little in over my head with all of the e-books I'm currently borrowing from the public library (via Kindle).  It's like handing over a credit card instead of cash -- so easy to borrow 14 books, all due back the same day, when you don't have to physically pick up those books and stagger out to your car under their weight.

I'll list what I've read since this post, and will post on the sidebar from here on out.

Crazy Rich Asians
In the Woods
Whitethorn Woods
The Nesting Place
Circle of Friends
The Likeness

Four of those books take place in Ireland and have Irish authors, so I feel like any moment I'm going to start referring to flashlights as "torches" and calling the kids to their "meat tea" instead of dinner.  I also like how they say "round" instead of "around."  Charming.

Last Friday (July 22nd) Chet and I celebrated our 10th anniversary!  We headed to New Braunfels (the girls had been there all week, attending VBS at Didi's church) on Friday and were able to go to a movie (Friday) and out to dinner (Saturday).  Ruthie was perturbed at the thought of her food source being out of arm's reach:

But she consented after a little convincing and making sure I'd had a healthy dose of the side-eye:

Monday this past week the kids and I camped out at Chick-fil-a for pre- and post-dinner.  It's how we survive the heat and Chet's Monday night class.

Yesterday I took Ruthie to her 4-month appointment (a little late; we're still trying to get back on schedule since the move).  She was 14 lbs even (29th percentile), and 25" long (49th percentile).

Small, but not tiny, and the perfect level of chubby.  Pretty much like the rest of our babies, except that Sydney was on the skinnier side and Lorelei was on the chubbier side.  Facebook actually reminded me that I posted this 9-month picture of chubby Lorelei 4 years ago:

She's as sweet now as she was then (despite body-checking her sister and brother whenever she passes them).  Speaking of Lorelei, she's in love with all things beautiful (like this fuzzy notebook):

She'll write in it for a solid hour:

This is her current beautiful dresser display, which changes often (Dollar Tree silver tray, McDonald's "The Secret Life of Pets" Happy Meal toys, a rainbow Cheetah (back right), and a glowing Christmas angel):

Chet and I have also decided that it's time to get serious chore-wise around here.  The kids (the girls) do a lot to help out, but just as we ask, not on any sort of actual rotation or anything.  So we're going to start with post-meal cleanup.  I'll let you know how it goes.

As listed above, I recently read "The Nesting Place."  I loved it so much, and it made me want to nest (which I did).  I started out trying to hang as little as possible on the walls in this house since we will only be here a short while, but I couldn't take the beige-ness anymore.  Artwork below is mostly courtesy of Sydney, but yours truly painted the pelican at one of those canvas painting classes, and I drew the horse picture when I was about Sydney's age (I'm sure I either had a LOT of help or traced it -- I am hopeless when it comes to art).  Sydney also took the photograph of the flower, back during her Pre-K year.

The TV enriching period is apparently over because the girls are being loud and giggly.  Gotta go!  Happy Saturday!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

July 4th isn't my favorite -- I love it's a celebration of our nation's independence, of course -- but I have a hard time really getting into a holiday where you're expected to spend the majority of the day outside when it's hotter than hades (unless there's a large body of water, then I can negotiate).

And I love grilling out as much as the next person -- please, please, PLEASE just don't make me eat all of that hot food outside.

Finally, I have lots of (really) young kids.  You simply cannot expect me to wait around until 9:30 p.m. for a fireworks show to start.  That's what time I go to sleep, people.

I know, I'm a July 4th Scrooge.

We visited Didi and Papa Dave Saturday and Sunday, where we swam and grilled out (and ate indoors).  So I feel like we've already done all of the celebrating we can do; another day off is just icing on the cake (and sure to make me confused the rest of the week as to which day it is).

Anyway, this is how we've been surviving the dog days of summer:

We're nothing if not classy.  That $25 blow up pool you can barely see in the background has saved us though.  The kids will play out there for hours.  All I have to do it give them a Popsicle every 75 minutes or so.

I was determined to get a good "holiday" picture of all the children.  We started out with this background, but the sun was a little too bright, making everyone appear a little more desolate than I wanted:

So we switched to a spot under a tree, and had much better results:

I thought this was cute of my girls (I cut Ford out of this picture, because Chet was wiping purple jellybean-colored saliva off of Ford's chin):

The boy:

Ruthie puts on her poker face whenever she sees the camera/phone, so you have to catch her smiling unawares:

Then we pushed our luck:

I'm not sure what Chet was doing behind me, but it was hilarious:

Ruthie calmed down once she was back in the air conditioning (a girl after my own heart):

This says it all: